It’s Friday… and that means it’s time for some cool stuff.

Here are some amazing shadow sculptures.

The world’s largest food market, Rungis, is quite amazing. Kinda like the west side market on steroids, crack, and located in France.

Modern military ruins of San Francisco.

Oh how I love Japanese game shows. Like this: the treadmill challenge. I hope American TV doesn’t try to copy this, because I bet we will fail. Either that, or all the contestants will wuss out, or wind up suing the production company.

No doubt you’ve always wanted to race mammoths frozen in blocks of ice down a snowy slope, right? Well, your ship has come in, baby.

My favorite kind of news story has cropped up again: a new low for Bush’s approval rating. Folks, there’s still time left for this administration. With a little hard work and some visits to the flyover states, I think we can bring this baby down to ZERO. Wouldn’t that be great?

Curious about the new Bay Bridge span? If so, here’s some info and a collection of pretty cool pictures.

The city of Seattle is talking about banning microwave popcorn. Okay, I have to admit, the headline gave me high hopes and the story immediately squashed them. I think microwave popcorn is one of the worst-smelling things on the planet, not to mention it tastes like shit, and is usually soaking in faux-butter. On top of that is what I believed was the rationale for such a ban: the steam it gives off is believed to be poisonous. Sadly, the ban will only be in “civic center buildings” and is attributed to people burning their popcorn and setting off fire alarms. Let me just say, I think microwave popcorn should be banned altogether. It takes no time at all to make popcorn in a pan, and it actually tastes good.

Everyone knows about the 5-second rule, but in this day and age of germ-phobia, it has become rare to see it put into action. With a little more research, that could all change. We could finally cut down on the tragic loss of once-delicious foods. You see, scientists say there IS some truth to it. I’m aware that Mythbusters already took up this study and confirmed it to be bullshit, but many believe their experiment was flawed. Check out the article for details, but naturally, “wet” foods attract bacteria much faster.

The top 10 face-plant videos. Oh, they’re hard to watch, believe me. I highly recommend the one where they’re stomping grapes… the sound that woman makes after hitting the ground is like some horrible mating call… and I’m certain it was a sound effect used on The Howard Stern Show that I never new the origin of.

Pentagon Confirms It Sought To Build A “Gay Bomb”. Really. In 1994, too! It was supposed to make members of the same sex irresistible, and well… it never got off the ground. Big surprise.

Well, Paris is out of jail already. Why? Officials say it’s due to an undisclosed medical problem. Nymphomania, perhaps? In any case, she’ll have to wear one of those mega-stylish bracelets and remain in her home for 40 days. Let’s face it, even that will probably get reduced to about 5 days. She’ll be out drunkenly ramming people’s cars in just a few hours.

Oh well, there’s some good news out there, too. Fans of the CBS show Jericho (myself included) are rejoicing because they have decided NOT to cancel the show! It seems that bombarding them with emails, as well as 50,000 pounds of nuts, has managed to convince them that the show had a bigger fan base than they realized. (The nuts thing stems from a story that Skeet Ulrich’s character’s grandfather told, and was a one-liner used towards the end of the last episode.) In any case, I’m excited because that’s one of two TV shows I follow… the other being, of course, LOST.

Also, Larry David’s getting a divorce.

Hey there peeps. Just wrapped up the first week at my new job, and boy is it nice to commute on a bicycle. So far they’ve kept me occupied, which I much prefer over idle time spent on the internet. I mean, y’all know how much time I spend on this here world wide web. The last thing I need is a job that affords me even MORE time to surf. Anyway, I guess my schedule this week prevented me from blogging, so I’ve got a few days worth of stuff for ya. Enjoy.

This week Cindy Sheehan stepped down as Protester-in-Chief, which reminded us that… “oh yeah, this war hasn’t even subsided at all.” There really is no end in sight. Vote Kucinich ‘08.

Perhaps we’re so out of it because 1 in 3 of us believes the Bible to be the literal word of God. I mean, come on people. I was starting to think that most priests, pastors and preachers didn’t even believe that. Sure there are lessons to be learned, but these days you can learn lessons from the back side of a Snapple cap or someone’s bumper sticker.

Then again, maybe we’re in this whole Iraq mess thanks to a rigged voting system. And you know something? Even Hitler did his best to rig the election. Granted, it wasn’t as sophisticated as using Diebold’s crooked executives as pawns… yet it still got the job done.

Drug-resistant staph infections are spreading amongst the urban poor, although the actual number of infections is still not alarmingly high. Still, when human beings are basically outlining their own demise, you have to wonder about these microscopic organisms and THEIR futures.

Somehow, the crafty-ass Milky Way has hidden 28 planets from us for all these years. Well Mr. Way, you’re totally busted. Let me tell you, if we find out you’ve been hiding life from us… well… we’re gonna have a long talk.

Everyone loves the Popcorn Song. You know, that synth-ridden tune from way back when. Now there’s a website where you can listen to far too many versions of it, and probably learn more about it than you ever wanted to.

I will be the first to admit, I am terrible about learning the names of actors and actresses. Still, sometimes you can ask everyone in the room “who is that guy?” and no one will quite be able to place his name. Cracked magazine has made a list of the top 20 “that guys”, and they’re pretty much spot-on.

Want to know when someone’s lying? Here’s what to look for.

Want to get a tattoo while skydiving? Hell no! Who would be dumb enough to do that?!

This page is quite amazing. They’ve taken the colors of every country’s flags and made them into pie charts. If there’s one thing I learned from this, it’s that there isn’t nearly enough purple in flags. Was it outlawed or something??

India street dentists. With my new job I get dental coverage, thankfully… but I was about ready to find someone like this to take on my teeth.

By now I’m sure all of you have heard about Google Maps’ new feature: the street-level view. And I’m sure you’ve heard about all the big brother controversy it has been stirring up… people being caught on camera coming out of strip clubs… photos of people’s living rooms… sunbathers… and the list goes on. Well, here’s the camera they use, mounted on top of a car. Personally, I think it’s a cool feature. Of course there are privacy issues, but look… if anyone REALLY wanted to spy on someone else, they could. You can walk down the street and photograph everyone’s license plate, but why would you? The fact is, unless you’re a shut-in, very little that you do is private. If Google were snapping photos of the inside of motel rooms across the country, THEN a lot of people would have cause for concern. Right now they’re just taking still images of what you’d see while walking, driving, or riding your bike down the street. If you really want something to stay private, then make sure it’s not visible to everyone who goes by!

Anyway, here are the Top 15 Google Street View Sightings.

Despite my privacy rant, there are times when things get out of hand. Take the case of Allison Stokke, for example. This high school track star became an internet superstar because of one photo of her about to pole vault. Now she’s in the mainstream news as the victim of unwanted fame and attention. Having seen her picture several times in my regular blog circles and on SomethingAwful, I was amazed one morning to see a BBC article about her. I can’t even imagine how annoying it must be for her at this point.

The other day, nicodemia was telling me about how there used to be two sizes of railroad track, and then I randomly came across this article about railroad gauges and standardization. I have no choice but to post this.

What happens when you pit a 1986 Macintosh against a 2007 AMD DualCore machine? Well… this. Truly, the article starts out with one word that sums up why there are even comparisons to be made here: bloat. There’s nothing streamlined about Microsoft Windows, and this proves it.

Finally, I leave you with something completely pointless: the Fat Man’s Website. It’s just some guy who is VERY proud of his fatness.